


The Protection

by RoyHankins



Series: Avamorphs (Avatar/Animorphs crossover series) [3]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animorphs AU, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28233312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoyHankins/pseuds/RoyHankins
Summary: My name is Toph. My friends and I fight alien slugs. It's gross, and very awesome. What's far less awesome are the kinds of stupid events my parents are always making me go to. At least, they were, until I realized that the right morph could make all the difference...
Series: Avamorphs (Avatar/Animorphs crossover series) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961986
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Book cover: Toph, wearing a very fancy dress, morphing into a well groomed poodle monkey. The second frame is a nightmare to look at.
> 
> Tagline: "No one said saving the world was easy."

My name is Toph. If you want me to tell you anything more than that, tough. Things like how old I am, where I live, and all that sorta junk is off limits.

One day, me and some other kids were cutting through a construction site, when an alien’s spaceship crashed out of the sky. Gee’atsoh, the Andalite who was inside the thing, was about to croak, but before he did he changed our lives.

See, as it turns out, he wasn’t the only alien that came to our planet. Some stupid slimy slug things called Yeerks got here first, and they can control people’s bodies. They’re trying to take our world from us, without anyone even knowing they’re here.

We’re not just going to let that happen. Before he died, Gee’atsoh gave us the power to morph, to change into any animal we wanted. Since then, we’ve been hiding out, and fighting the Yeerks when and where we can.

But morphing isn’t the only thing we can do.

Ever since I was a kid, I could earthbend. My mom told me once, when she was mad at me, that at three years old I’d started tearing chunks out of the wall because they’d taken away my favorite toy.

I’ve always been something of a free spirit.

I just wish I was better at it. I’ve tried convincing my parents to let me learn more about earthbending, to get me a tutor or something, but they don’t like it. The most they ever agreed to was hiring someone who taught me to see using earthbending, since I was born blind, but that was it. They’re both nonbenders, and these days bending isn’t something people in ‘our station’ need to learn. Maybe a few hundred years ago, being a strong bender was a good thing for a noble girl. But now, it’s a mark against me.

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention, my family is stinking rich. I live in a literal mansion.

And I hate every second of it.

I’ve tried practicing in secret before, but when I was younger, I got caught all the time. For some reason, they punished me harder for that than almost anything else. My motivation dried up, though I’d still sometimes promise myself that I’d be sure to really learn what I could when I got older, once I was out of this stupid house.

Those plans are out the window now. Motivation? The end of the world is enough motivation for me. So whenever my friends and I don’t have anything planned, I find a blind spot in the grounds of the mansion, and I train.

This particular afternoon, I was in the basement cellar, where my parents keep their wines. It had been hollowed out in the first place by earthbending craftsmen, the walls and floor all sheer rock, so it made for a great training ground.

I’d just gotten home from school, and I made sure my parents were both busy. I knew every person who worked at our estate, and it wasn’t too hard to figure out where each and every one of them was. Leaving me free to finally do some more training.

All I had to do now was concentrate.

When I first learned earthbending, it wasn’t something I had a lot of control over. I was pretty strong for my age, able to huck rocks that size of my body when I was a toddler, but my precision and sensing abilities weren’t nearly as good.

Recently, that’s begun to change. It isn’t like the earthbending sense I was taught as a child. That’s pretty simple, nearly anyone with the ability to earthbend can learn it. The technique just involves sending out a pulse through the earth, then feeling what came from it.

I don’t have to send a pulse anymore. I could  _ feel _ the earth around me, under my feet, over my head, surrounding me in every direction.

My biggest problem was that I didn’t have any formal training. If you can’t bend, or you never learned how to improve bending you can do, you might think it’s just a matter of waving your arms and whatever.

But there’s a reason why earthbending forms are things passed down from one generation to the next. They’re about learning which movements have what effects, and how much you need to move to get what you want to happen. Only after learning everything you can do, can you move out of the forms and start improvising.

Which led right into a rare issue with the whole ‘no sight’ thing. If I couldn’t find someone to teach me, then normally my next avenue would be printed instructions from books. My family made sure not to carry any, but I could have used the local library. But books are useless to me, except as heavy things to occasionally throw at Sokka.

That meant I had to feel it out myself. That’s what I’d tried to do when I was younger, but it had felt impossible, like learning to play an instrument without ever hearing music before.

Ever since I’d started morphing badger moles, that changed. I knew there were stories about them being the first earthbenders, the ones who taught the art to my people. Though other people say it was a lion turtle, so who knows. Either way, they’re one of the few animals that can bend, and I couldn't help wondering if somehow it was morphing into different badger moles that caused my awareness had started to expand.

This was only my third or fourth time training since then, and I could already feel the difference. Just by bending my forearm up, I could extend a column of rock as big around as a Satomobile tire out of the ground, up to the ceiling. But I didn’t let them slam together, even if I really wanted to. That would make too much noise. And making it stop where I wanted it to, that was important too. Power and control, together.

I raised my other arm, extending another pillar, stopping it just an inch away from the ceiling. Beads of sweat were pouring down my face, the effort of the bending starting to tax me, but I could keep going. Plus, I’d gotten a good feel of the motion, I could do it faster.

Again and again and again.

Three and four and five.

With each pillar I rose up, the more confident I felt. This was  _ awesome! _ I went to raise a sixth one...only to realize my arm hurt. Again, weird bender thing, but most people have no clue how hard bending actually is. It puts a huge strain on your body if you start going past your limits, both in terms of regular athleticism and how much stuff you’re moving around. But the only way to get better, to be able to bend larger amounts of stuff with less movement, is to practice, to go beyond what you’re normally capable of.

I was happy with how my little practice session had turned out, and realized with a start that someone was heading for the stairs. Had I been too loud? Pushing against my limits, I reached up and pushed my hands down to the floor, which sunk all the columns I’d raised back into the ground, leaving it as smooth as it had been when I’d entered.

Just in time. “Young lady?” called Pui Ha, one of my father’s favorite lackeys. Apparently his black hair was starting to go grey on the sides, whatever that meant, and according to my mom I was responsible for that. Good. Freaking busybody... “Ah, there you are!” he said, speed-walking over to me. I pushed my distaste for him back, pulling up the proper expression: a mask of polite obliviousness.

“I just needed some time to myself,” I told him as an excuse.

He seemed to buy it, though he still didn’t look too happy with me. Oh, boo hoo, the middle-manager who thought he was a tyrant wasn’t having a good day. “Miss, I must ask you to come with me. Your father and mother are waiting for you.” I had to fight the urge to sigh. Great, a family meeting. Those always went so well.

I followed him up the stairs, through the manor. Still, I could at least slow him down by pretending to be a timid, slow girl who couldn’t match his pace. That just gave me more time to prepare for what was coming. Nothing less than a Perfect Daughter mask would suffice.

There was no way I could have known I’d be walking into a perfect opportunity to fight some slugs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flip book animation in the corner for the first quarter: Toph in a very fancy dress of light yellows and bright greens, looking like she's talking to people.

“Please, follow my voice, young lady.” As he always does when escorting me through the house, Pui Ha made a point of stopping every few feet to say something like that, as if he was helping guide me around. The big tall numbskull knows I could sense the area around me with my bare feet, but he still makes the point of acting like he’s helping me get around my own house.

Of course, I can’t know for sure whether that was some stupid thing he came up with on his own, or whether my father had ordered him into it. The odds were pretty even, actually.

If I didn’t make the point before, the place I live is too big. My folks have been rich since birth, same as me, and it seems like the real family business is finding some way to keep getting richer. Not like I have any interest in that, but they don’t really care if I do or don’t. They expect me to ‘do my duty’.

The thing is, my house is so stinking big that I never know where my parents are. Even with my enhanced earthbending senses, I can’t watch the entire building at once, can’t even really come close to it. There are dozens of offices, meeting rooms, even an old-timey one that looks like something from more than a hundred years ago. Who knows? Maybe it’s actually that old.

It’s not like I care enough to find out.

So like I was saying, I did have to follow Pui, I just wish he didn’t keep jabbering. “...five percent since last year...”

“That’s very interesting.” What’s worse than following the guy is the mask I have to wear around him. I couldn’t say what I’d wanted to say, which would have been more like, ‘Who cares about that boring stuff? Tell me where my folks are and I’ll get to them myself!”

The worst thing about being home, and the reason I try to avoid it when I can, is how I have to act.

“Here we are, my lady,” the servant told me, standing in front of the most recently refurbished office. He held the door open for me, but didn’t go inside himself.

Which meant it was a family-only meeting, great.

I walked in as meekly as I could, doing everything to keep my face neutral. “Let me help you into your seat, Toph,” my mother offered, taking my hand and guiding me into an expensive chair. 

My toes barely grazed the ground, so I could at least still get a vague sense of where people were. Dad was sitting across from me, and once I had sat down Mom went to go join him. “...” None of us said anything at first. I think we were all waiting for someone else to talk.

“Toph, we have something important to tell you.” Oh, of course. Dad had to get the first word in. The world would end if he let me or Mom talk normally. “But before we do, tell me, are you...” It sounded like he wasn’t exactly sure how to say what he wanted to say, which didn’t happen often. “...you’re doing well? That  _ school _ isn’t a problem?”

There was a weird hopeful sound to how he asked that. He wanted it to be a problem.

My parents never wanted to send me to public school. They either wanted me getting tutored from home, or going to some fancy schmancy private school.

It took a lot, but I was able to convince them to let me try attending the nearby ‘commoner’s school’. Weirdly enough, Zuko’s mom Ursa had actually been a huge help in getting them to give up. I was just being obstinate, but she had facts and science and junk about how it was better to socialize with regular kids.

Still, if my Dad ever found out about an issue with my school, I’d be pulled out that day.

I’ve kept my nose clean so far. Oh, not because I don’t do stuff that’s against the dumb rules, but because I’ve never been caught.

“No, Father, but thank you for asking. I’m doing quite well.” I said the words Prim and Polite, while keeping a stupid bland smile on my face.

I can’t be myself around my parents. I stopped trying years ago.

Whenever I tried to give them some taste of what I’m really like, I got punished. I wasn’t ‘being a proper young lady’. I had to ‘act according to my station’.

So instead I look boring, I sound boring, and I pretend everything is fine.

That was apparently all my Dad wanted to know. ‘Hmm, can I kick her out of the school? No? Alright, don’t care anymore.’

Skipping straight to why I’d been brought there, my Dad told me, “There’s going to be a Gala here tomorrow, in the East Wing. It’s a fundraiser for the future Mayor of our city. Many important people will be there, and so will you. I expect you to be on your best behavior.”

There was no question as to whether I was going or not. Dad didn’t care to know what I thought about it. I was going, and I couldn’t embarrass him.

This wasn’t something new. My folks threw parties like this once or twice a year, and I’d learned a long time ago how to get out of them. Back in the day, I used to kick up a fuss and get grounded. It took awhile for my parents to realize that meant I got to avoid the thing I didn’t want to go to. Now, the plan was to wait until the morning of, fake an illness, stay in bed.

But hearing this was about to happen, my brain started to race. For once, I actually wanted to go to one of these boring events, but I’d need to make sure it went my way.

I don’t like lying to my parents. But I’ve gotten good at it. Smiling at them, I almost sang, “Oh, of course I will! I’m looking forward to it.” Then, doing my best to make it look natural, I ‘realized’ something. “Um, actually,” I said with fake nervousness. “There won’t be any other children my age there, will there? I don’t know if I like being left alone with that many adults...”

The sad thing is, it’s easy to sell something if the person is looking to buy. My Dad ate it up. “That’s a good point,” he said, clearly unhappy with the idea of his darling daughter uncomfortable around strangers, or even worse, what they might do with me.

“Don’t worry, Father,” I said, perking up my voice. “I’ll be fine, I’m sure there won’t be any trouble. I still want to go, after all.”

“No,” he told me quickly, now that I’d seeded that doubt in his heart. “No, I’m...hmm...”

It was obvious. He wanted me to go, but now he couldn’t abide by it. So, I was helpful. I offered him a solution. “I think I’d feel safer if I had some of my friends there?” I sounded timid to even bring it up, like I was scared to suggest it.

It worked like a charm. “That is a good idea,” my Mom said, clearly already onboard with it.

My Dad wasn’t entirely up for it yet. “Which friends? How many? It wouldn’t do to fill the hall with uncouth children.” I had to bite my tongue from telling him that he was already trying to force one there: me.

I had to pick who I suggested carefully. Sokka had already gotten on my dad’s bad side, and that meant Katara was out too. My Dad is a firm believer in guilt by association.

“I’m sure Zuko would love to attend.” That was a done deal. Even if his parents’ divorce had been an issue for some people, Mom and Dad were actually some of the few high society folks not to completely cast out Ursa and Zuko to the coyote-wolves. I’d need more back-up than just him, which meant fluffing up an unknown variable. “I have another friend, he’s actually in my year. His name’s Aang, and he’s an airbender.”

That got their attention. No one ever sees the Nomads anymore, which means some people want to establish ties with them even more. Something about how useful they’d be in business or whatever?

Sure, Aang didn’t actually have any connections to his people, but it wasn’t like I had to tell my Dad that.

“Hmm...” My Dad likes to hum when he’s thinking. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Toph.” There was a warmth in his words that actually made me happy. Compliments were a rare thing, even if I’d stopped trying to get them a long time ago. “Just make sure they’re on their best behavior.” There went the warm fuzzies.

The implicit threat of punishment if my friends got in trouble wasn’t something I could miss.

They excused me from the room, and I allowed Pui Ha to lead me back to my bedroom. The second I was alone in there, I went over to my phone and called Zuko.

“Hello, Zuko here.”

I couldn’t help myself, I busted a gut. After what I’d just been through, I needed a laugh, and Zuko could take me chuckling at him a little. We’ve been friends since before I could talk, and in my opinion the big brooding scar boy needs more humor in his life. “Man, your mom needs to stop letting you answer the phone.”

When he replied, his voice was low and growly, the Zuko usual. “What’s going on, Toph?”

The thing about this whole Yeerk stuff is, we don’t know how far up it goes. We don’t know if they can hear us on the phone.

So instead of telling him, “I’ve got us all set up to foil some slug schemes,” I said, “You know that thing we’re all working on?” That got a serious grunt. “Yeah, well, I’ve got an idea. It’s gonna need you, me, and airbender supreme.” We hashed out the details: we’d meet up the next morning, giving us time to plan everything out. The gala wasn’t until evening.

Before I hung up, I had to give him a bit of a hint as to what was up. “You know how my parents' parties are,  _ all sorts of people _ love to come to them.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flip book animation in the corner for the second quarter: Toph heads to a corner of the page and starts to shrink into her clothes.

“Why are we doing this?” Zuko was standing in front of the mirror, scowling at the fancy suit he was wearing. The exasperation in his voice made it obvious that he wasn’t a fan of my plan.

Luckily, there was someone there to balance out his dour attitude with cheeriness. “I don’t get why we even need a reason!” Aang said, turned around to show different parts of himself to the mirror. “This sounds like it’ll be really fun!”

“It won’t,” I told him, hoping my monotone would make it clear how  **boring** these stupid parties always were.

To me, mirrors are weird. People keep standing in front of them, and they...reflect? Whatever that means?

So the way my friends were posing and looking at the mirrors just felt silly. But this was Aang, so that wasn’t exactly off for him.

We’d spent the morning with me explaining the plan, then heading to Zuko’s house. I have more than enough dresses, and Zuko had at least a few sets of formal wear that wouldn’t embarrass him.

Aang was a different story though. He doesn’t like to talk about it with us, but the kid is clearly dirt poor. I might have just had to rely on Zuko for back-up, but once again Ursa saved my butt. Turns out, she heard us talking about the problem and had a solution.

Namely, she’d been keeping Zuko’s clothes from when he was younger, and there was a suit that fit Aang close enough to work. Sadly, she’d also used up most of the day with finding the ‘perfect’ outfit for Aang. Zuko’s mom loves doting on people, and I swear Aang just gives off an energy that makes other people want to take care of him.

Judging by what my earthbending sense was telling me, the suit was pretty baggy on Aang, and I realized that maybe I should have stopped by a tailor to actually make sure it actually fit him. We were too late for that, though, the party was in half an hour.

Apparently Zuko was getting tired of watching Aang posing, because he put an arm on his shoulder and pulled him away from the mirror. “Run the plan by us again.”

“My parents are throwing a huge gala, some fundraising thing for a politician. All the richest old people will be there.” I thought that explained why we had to be there, but apparently not.

“So?” Aang asked.

I did my best to roll my eyes, though it’s kind of hard to know if I did it right. “ **So** , if the Yeerks are interested in turning the most powerful people in the city into Controllers, my parents’ party is a great opportunity for them to shove slugs in heads.”

Zuko made a grunt that my Zuko Grunt Encyclopedia told me he was making it clear he’d heard me, but didn’t exactly agree with me.

From how Aang was scratching at his shaggy hair, it was clear he didn’t get. At least, not until he gasped. “Oh! You want to protect your parents.”

I didn’t blush hearing that. I didn’t let him know he was right.

My parents run my life, and do everything they can to ruin it. That doesn’t mean I want them to become Controllers.

Rather than saying anything about that, I continued telling them the plan. “We’ll stay together at first, then spread out so we can watch the rest of the party. If any of us notice something weird, we tell the others as soon as we can.” Turning to face one of them and then the other, I asked, “Emergency morphs?”

Zuko exhaled through his nose. “Fire ferret.” I thought about teasing him with something like ‘Isn’t that one your  **girlfriend’s** pet?’ but I decided against it. Rib him for it later, serious planning came first.

“I’ll just use Kuei,” Aang said, clearly excited to turn into a lemur again.

Sometimes, after school, Aang would morph into that body just to hang out with us. I’d never say it out loud, but I’d started to wonder if he preferred being a lemur to a boy with no family.

Trying to say it as flatly as I could, I contributed, “One of the rich ladies who always comes to these events has a poodle monkey, I’ll acquire that to use if I need it.”

Aang didn’t seem to see anything weird about that, but Zuko noticed. “That’ll be your first morph that can see. Do you think you’ll be okay?”

I’d hoped he wouldn’t bring that up. Bile rose in my throat. “I’m not some stupid baby, Zuko. I’ll be  **fine** .” I didn’t miss the things he wasn’t saying.

Zuko had noticed that I was avoiding morphing into anything that could see. All my morphs, up to that point, had been different sizes of badger moles, who were all as blind as I am.

I don’t...it’s stupid. Being able to morph is our greatest strength against the Yeerks. Most animals can see. I was going to have to go through it at some point.

But there was fear there, fear I could never admit to feeling.

I’m Toph. The toughest girl in school. I sock kids twice my size in the face, and I spit wherever I want to, whenever I want to. I’m not some weak princess, I can do anything.

That’s who I have to be. If I’m not that...who am I?

Being blind is another part of who I am. I refuse to consider it a defect, a deficiency, a disability. It’s just who I am. With my earthbending, I can still live a normal life, an awesome life, it doesn’t hamper me at all. I don’t need any accommodations, I don’t need any help, I don’t  **want** to see.

If I did see, I felt like it would be a betrayal to who I am. Like I was admitting I  **did** need sight all this time.

The longer I avoided it, though, the more obvious it would be to everyone else.

They’re my friends. But I can’t let them think I’m weak. I couldn’t let them know that I’d be terrified of what I’d see when I morphed that poodle monkey.

In no time at all, we were in the ballroom. As the daughter of the hosts, and her friends, we entered a little after the party actually started. Some stupid rich person thing. Zuko and Aang followed my lead, as I put my Perfect Daughter mask on and made small talk with people as I passed them.

Finding Mrs. Lee wasn’t too hard with my earthbending sense, and she was happy to let such a ‘cute little girl’ pet her baby. She was astonished as her normally yappy pet shut up while I acquired its DNA, and I thanked her for the chance to touch such an adorable animal. Really played up the ‘blind rich girl’ angle, it always works on women like her.

That done, we were heading back to the center of the ballroom when I heard a voice I knew all too well. It had rolling richness to it, so distinct you only have to hear it once for it to be stuck in your head forever. But I’d heard it a lot more than once.

“Ah, there you are, Toph. You seem to be doing well.” The man sounded genuinely pleased, but I’m pretty good at reading people, and I knew damn well it wasn’t real.

I could  **feel** Zuko’s posture start to stiffen from behind me, while Aang just radiated a confused concern for his friend and why he suddenly looked like he might cry.

There was no chance I’d tease Zuko for reacting that way. He had every reason to be upset.

Because the man talking to me, wearing one of the most expensive suits at the party, was the same one who’d given Zuko his scar.

Still, I had to at least appear courteous. I curtsied to him, bowing my head as I replied, “Thank you for the compliment, sir.”

He laughed, and the sound was too charming for him. “Oh, Toph please. I’ve known you since you were a baby. In a way, I like to think of you as family.” Even without being able to see, I felt like I knew who he was looking at when he said that, and it wasn’t me. “You can always call me Uncle Ozai, if you’d like.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flip book animation in the corner for the next quarter of the book: A poodle monkey emerges from the dress and looks around the page, confused.

There was no chance I would  **ever** call him Uncle Ozai.

But as much as I wanted to, I also couldn’t earthbend him out of the party, through as many walls as possible. The last time I got handsy with Ozai, my parents had to sit me down and explain that it was okay to be mad, but I couldn’t respond like I did.

Because of course I can’t. I’m a lady. I’m a precious, delicate, weak girl that has to be protected from everyone and everything. I’m not the type of person who’s supposed to sock a CEO in the family jewels as hard as I can.

Instead, I was told to be polite, but there wasn’t any need to be nice. It stunk, but it was what I had to work with, if I didn’t want to make my parents mad. “Was there anything you wanted to talk to me about,  **sir** ?” For example, I could completely ignore what he’d said and not call him my uncle.

Any pleasantness that was in Ozai’s face just up and vanished, and that just left him looking like the jerk he was. “I see. No, I suppose there isn’t.” With that said, he turned and walked away, other important people taking a wide berth to get out of his way. Ozai’s one of those people that just radiates anger when he’s in a mood.

Before I could turn around and say what was on my mind, Zuko beat me to it. “We should tail him,” he whispered, his voice intense. I was about to say the same thing, but now I wondered why Zuko was thinking that. Looking at the well-polished floor, he told me, “I’m not...this isn’t about me. He’s a very important...”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I interrupted. “The slugs will probably be excited to get in his ear.” Thinking over what the situation was, I told them the problem. “Thing is, we’re too noticeable. I’m the host’s daughter, and your face isn’t exactly one that blends into a crowd.” Zuko scowled, but he didn’t argue.

Aang piped up. “Morph?”

That had been part of the plan. It was a lot easier to get info that way. “Not you, Aang,” Zuko told him. “There’s no way Toph’s parents would allow two animals to just run around their gala without anyone attending them. Toph and I will morph in the bathrooms, and you’ll be our owner.” I could tell that our resident airbender wasn’t super happy with the plan, since he loved to morph so much, but I agreed with Zuko’s idea.

Aang waited not far from the nearest set of restrooms, where Zuko and I split up. I used my earthbending sense to tell that there was no one in either room, something that was pretty easy to do with the fancy bottomless shoes my parents had made so I could see get around while looking respectable.

Once in there, I took off the fancy stuff I was wearing, since it was too loose to morph with. I earthbent a hole in the floor and dropped the clothes in, closing it up so that no one would see what I’d hidden. Then, standing in my underwear in the bathroom, I started to morph.

Luckily for my (stupid) fears, my eyes weren’t the first thing to change. Instead, I felt my hands and feet change first.

Maybe it’s because I can’t see what’s going on when I morph, only feel it, but I don’t hate it the way the rest of my friends seem to. Sure, I was able to feel joints pop and bones stretch out, my skin start to produce a thick curly fur, and my face elongate into a muzzle, but it didn’t hurt. It felt gross, but gross is great.

My hands and feet had quickly changed to the paw-structure that most dog-like animals had, claws included, but my arms and legs were long and strong, and also able to be easily hidden under my newly grown fur. I’m pretty sure I was shrinking too, but that’s just a weird sensation for me whenever I change size.

I’ve heard Aang say something about how he’s able to control the morphs, just a little. Like, with practice, he can will one part of his body to start changing before another. I thought he was just trying to show off to his new friends, but maybe he was right. Maybe the reason the last thing to change for me was my eyes...was because I was doing everything I could to hold that one back.

I...I don’t think I can really explain what it was like. For my entire life, I had never seen a single thing. The entire idea of ‘seeing’, of ‘light’ and ‘color’ and all of that junk, it didn’t mean anything to me. For a while, when I was a kid, I thought everyone was messing with me. Trying to trick me into believing something like that existed.

But as my eyes developed, shrinking and changing to fit my new species, I  **saw** . Not well, not at first. Things were...what do people call it? ‘Blurry’? It was like when I tried to use my earthbending sense with sand. I couldn’t make anything out, though even if I had, I don’t know if it would have done me any good.

I didn’t know what things were even  **supposed** to look like. But as everything sharpened a little, some of them looked different from others. It took me a while to realize that was what ‘color’ was, though apparently poodle-monkeys actually have pretty bad vision, compared to people who’re color-blind.

Well for me, going from ‘no concept of color’ to ‘not a lot of them’ was still one hell of a cliff. Weirdly enough, as the morph finished and I looked around, still not really able to process what was coming to me through my eyes, I realized I could still use my earthbending sense, if my paws were on the ground.

_ < _ Toph, where are you? I’m already out here with Aang .> Zuko’s voice entered my head, and I realized my little exploration of sight thing had taken too long.

I don’t know whether I hated or loved the fact that, at least right then and there, vision was completely useless to me, that I’d have to rely on my earthbending sense instead. It sucked because it made the mission harder, but it was awesome because it made me feel like I was right all along, that I never needed to see in the first place. < Hold your stinkin’ ostrich horses! > I replied back.

Closing my eyes didn’t used to mean anything for me, it was just something I did sometimes automatically, to keep the useless things wet. But now that I could see, it meant I could turn vision off and focus on what worked...kind of.

If you’ve never been blind, then you don’t really get that when people who can see ‘close their eyes’, it’s not the same thing as not being able to see at all. You can still see stuff, there’s just flesh in the way. Still, it was the closest I’d get as a poodle monkey, so I headed out of the bathroom and padded up to Aang.

“Aww, Toph, you’re so cute!!” he whispered, reaching down to pick me up.

_ No! _ I told him firmly over thoughtspeak, making him freeze. < One, I’m  **not** cute, and if you call me that again I’ll bite your ankle. Two, leave me on the ground. I can weave around people if I need to, and you’ll still look like my owner _. _ > I didn’t tell him that I wouldn’t be able to use my earthbending sense if he held me, because that wasn’t any of his business.

Aang didn’t fight me on it, because of course he didn’t. Since he joined the group, Aang had pushed back against someone like...two times. Maybe three. I’m not saying that because I don’t like him, because I actually do.

Even though I was literally a puppy at the time, Aang was the real puppy of the group. The kid just wanted affection, and whenever we paid attention to him, he was happy.

I’d never say this out loud but...I got it. When I first met Zuko, and after him Sokka and Katara, I was almost the same way. I didn’t show it, I acted tough and rude and whatever, but...they were the first people to actually get to know who I really am, and like it. I had a taste of friendship, and I wanted more of it. I was older now, and that feeling had completely faded, but seeing it in Aang, it was kinda nostalgic.

Still, the kid needed to toughen up. Especially since it isn’t like we’re hanging out to have tea and stuff, we’re supposed to be fighting aliens.

Speaking of, we moved through the party, and it didn’t take long for Aang to see Ozai. He was mingling, and Aang managed to get close enough for us to overhear. Zuko and I had the advantage there, too, since fire ferrets and poodle monkeys have better hearing than people do. For a while, as we followed him, there was nothing to really pay attention to. He complimented people on whatever, asked about business stuff, they did everything they could to suck up to him. Snore.

<Wait, what was that?> Zuko suddenly said to use, his thoughtspeak voice serious. <Aang, can you get a little closer? I have to be sure about something _. >_

I must have missed whatever he was worried about, but Aang did as Zuko asked, moving just a bit through the party in Ozai’s direction, hopefully without drawing anyone’s attention. It looked like Ozai was talking to someone else, another person who was originally from the Fire Nation.

The first thing that stood out to me about this other guy was that he had, just, mammoth sideburns. Was he trying to look cool? Because he didn’t look cool. The second thing was that he was wearing a military uniform, the one for our country’s navy. Now interested in what had gotten Zuko spooked, I listened more attentively to their conversation. “...lliant, Ozai. You know, I don’t tell everyone this, but I think you’re the kind of man our country needs. You should run for office!” I’d heard a thousand people who sounded like this guy. So eager to fluff egos, to earn favor. In other words, a complete and utter weasel.

Ozai’s reaction was just to smile and tell him, “Well, I don’t know about that, Admiral. In order to enter that kind of arena, you need...proper support.” In other words, Ozai was checking to see if he had any real backing if he made that kind of play.

But I couldn’t focus on that any longer, because Zuko started thoughtspeaking into my head again. < It’s him. That’s definitely him. That man my father is speaking with is an old friend of his, Admiral Zhao. He has a lot of friends in high places, so I never really paid any attention to Zhao in particular but...I knew I recognized that voice .>

Whispering, Aang asked, “Zuko, you’re sure?” I was wondering the same thing.

<I am. Admiral Zhao is Subvisser 8. He’s not just a Controller, he’s one of their leaders.>

That...okay then, so a Big Boss Yeerk was talking to Zuko’s dad. Trying to get him to run for office. That was not good. Was Zuko’s dad a Controller too? I knew he was wondering the same thing. But Zhao saw something to his right, off by the nearest wall of the ballroom, where a set of doors connected it with one of the house’s hallways. < Follow him, Aang! We have to follow Zhao !> I told him.

If Aang wasn’t a few feet shorter than everyone there and didn’t dress well enough to blend in, there was no way we would have gotten through unnoticed. Sometimes he whistled while he walked, sometimes he stepped way too loudly, other times he just bumped into people on accident because he wasn’t watching where he was going. I told myself that next weekend I was giving him sneaking lessons.

Still, we managed to stay pretty close to Zhao, as he approached someone who was holding a tray, like he was one of my family’s servants. But I know all the people my parents employ, and this person wasn’t one of them. “Are we ready to capture them for infestation, Subvisser?” the fake servant asked, before name-dropping my parents. I’d...been right. They were planning on getting my parents.

“Keep your voice down, “ Zhao hissed, looking around. It felt like a miracle that he didn’t notice Aang hiding conspicuously behind a councilman from Republic City. “And  **_no_ ** . I told you before, the primary objective is the materials in the library. Once we have that, and the party begins the wind down, then we can take the hosts.” I could hear how irritated the admiral sounded as he added, “If we fail to take what we need, then abort the mission entirely. The materials are what’s important here, not a couple of merchants. Am I clear?”

There was a short pause before the other Controller answered. “Yes, Subvisser, I understand.”

“Good. Now get it done, while I try and build real power.” Then Zhao went back to the party, and I could barely make out him striking up a conversation with someone else.

<Okay Aang ,> Zuko told us, thinking quickly. < Follow the servant, and once he leaves the room, we’ll go after him. Toph can lead us to the library, and we can stop them from taking whatever it is they’re after .> Aang nodded his head, and we went to work. That whole time though, one question couldn’t get out of my head: What was in my parent’s library that was more important than infesting them?


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry, not a new chapter, this is the author.

I've been debating what to do for a while now. I'm honestly just not happy with how these Avatar/Animorphs fics are coming out, especially with how much prep work went into them. They're also not getting enough buzz to make me feel like spending two or three times as much time polishing them is currently worth it.

So what I've decided is that, for now, I'm shelving them. Hopefully, one day I'll come back to them, as a more experienced writer better able to work within this kind of genre. Until then, they'll sit here.

If you read what's there so far and liked it, I'm sorry that I can't continue at this time. If you want to know where I was planning to take this, you can PM questions and if I have answers to them, I might give them to you.

I appreciate it that you read as much as you did, and I hope you have a great day.


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